davega

Posts - November 2008

• Day 2B

  November 26, 2008

  It’s time to head back over to the Rio for Day 2B. I’ve had a couple of days off waiting for Day 1D and Day 2A to play. I spent the 1st day pretty much recovering from my Day 1C. Going to bed at 4:30 am, I slept to about noon then played a little cash game. Just wasn’t really into it, so I cashed out after a couple of hours and just relaxed the rest of the day. Yesterday was pretty much the same as preparing for Day 1, watching what I ate, making sure I got enough rest, and really getting my head straight for today. Last night wasn’t near as bad as Day 1 eve. I didn’t have much problem going to sleep and rested pretty well. So I’m ready to play.

  I take that now familiar ride over to the Gold Coast on the shuttle bus. Then I walk across the street to the Rio. Now I take the long walk down to the Amazon Room where opportunity awaits. I only have to wait about 30 minutes before it’s time to head to my table and unbag my chips. Seat 7 it is. There’s a tenseness in the air but nothing like Day 1. Seat 6 jokingly makes a comment to me about how he’s got me dominated with his massive chip stack of $36.6k. I find out later that he is Adam Schoenfeld, an experienced tournament pro. The table seems pretty friendly with each other. I notice Seat 10 is Tom McEvoy, 1983 Main Event winner and poker pro. Seat 2 is a woman who I find out later is Allyn Jaffrey Shulman of Card Player Magazine. Seat 3 is a no-name that has a mountain of chips. So this table is going to play a bit different than my table on Day 1.

  “Shuffle up and deal!” Finally, let’s get this show on the road. I wait until the action is on me before I look at my cards (something I remember reading and want to make sure that I follow). 8d3h. Fold. Not as good of a start as Day 1. That’s OK. You can’t win every hand. I just have to play the cards I’m dealt. I settle down for a long but hopefully successful day. Successive hands are dealt and cards are folded. I’m having a bit of a slow start. Be patient. Finally, the decent hands start coming and my stack is slowly growing. Other players’ stacks have taken some hits. I look down at KdKs on the SB. It’s folded around to me. I don’t want to limp and let the BB see a free flop. My luck and he’ll flop 2 pair. I decide to make my standard 3xBB raise and hope for a call. What? You raise? All-in?? Now wait a minute. My kings are supposed to be the dominant hand here. What could you have? Since it’s the BB and he probably thinks that I was just trying to make a steal, he could have a pretty big range of hands. Hell, if he’s got AA, at least I’ve got him covered. My day wouldn’t be over but I’d be pushing a hell of a lot for awhile. I can’t fold KK. No way. No how. “Call”. QdQh!! Yes!! Unlucky for him but that’s his problem. “Do the right thing, dealer.” Flops Kc6c5d. He’s just about dead. Turn’s 10s. He’s done. “Tough one”. Goodbye. Gimme those chips. Up to $57.5k. Time for the 2nd break of the day.

  Back from break and there’s been a few hands dealt. All folds for me. The table is playing pretty tight to this point. I look down at rags UTG so I’m out. Seat 8 raises 3xBB. Table folds around to Seat 6 (Adam Schoenfeld) who makes the call from the BB. Flop comes 10d8h4d. Seat 6 makes a pot-sized bet. Seat 8 insta-shoves. Seat 6 has him covered by only $2.5k but thinks about it and makes the call. He turns over QhQd. Seat 8 flips over JsJd. Looks like a good pot for Seat 6. Turn is the deadly Jh. What was looking good a second ago is down to 6 outs (any 9 or 2 queens). River blanks and Seat 6 is down to $2.5k in chips. The next hand is dealt and it is folded around to Seat 6 in the SB. He takes a peak and shoves. I take a look at my cards, 10d9h. Hmmm. Not that great but not terrible. Calling this represents less than 5% of my stack and he could have shoved with any two cards after the last hand. Heck with it. “Call”. Seat 6 flips over Js10c. So my 10 is dead. At least it was cheap. Dealer flops Kd9s3c. Wahoo, I’m ahead. He’s got outs for sure. Turn and river are blanks for him so he’s out. I know it was a loose call. But with the previous hand, as tight as I have played so far, and the size of the bet, I feel justified in the call. I got lucky. It happens.

  I’ve taken a couple of small pots and I’m up to $65k in chips. I’m feeling pretty good about my outlook on this tournament and I look down at KhKs from UTG+2. Folded to me and I announce “Raise”. I bet 4xBB just to weed any weak ace holdings out of a call. I get one caller, Seat 1. Ok, dealer, no ace. Flop comes AhQdQc. Jesus. What the hell am I suppose to do with that? This has got to be the worst flop for me. Settle down, my opponent doesn’t know this. Action is on me. Continuation bet of ¾ pot seems about right. “Raise”. Raise? I’m done. Can’t do anything with it. Chips are too valuable. 20 minutes until the supper break. I’m getting nothing to play. Rags, rags, rags. Break time and I’m down to $48.2k in chips. Still OK but I’ll need to do something after dinner.

  It’s about an hour before stopping time for the night. This has been the longest and most painful night of my life. Since coming back from supper, I haven’t won a hand. I guess the fortunate part is, I haven’t played but 2 or 3 hands and they were from the blinds. This has been the longest bad run of cards I have ever experienced. Nothing suited. Nothing connected. 1 pair of 4’s but I didn’t see calling the raise and reraise preflop. Of course it flopped me a 4 and I would have won. But that’s it. I haven’t been folding rags that would have hit. I’m simply folding bad hands that would have been losers. Any time I’ve gotten mediocre hands like Q-10 off suit, there have been raises before the action got to me. I can’t sit here and get blinded out. I’ve dropped all the way down to less than $20k in chips. Any pair, any 2 paint, or any ace and I’m shoving if 1st into the pot. I’ve still got a little fold equity.

  Fold, fold, fold, fold. Please God, put me out of my misery. Finally I look down at Ah. “All-in”. I get one caller. He flips over AsJs. I didn’t even look at my other card. Please be a king or a queen. 2d??? Crap. Guess I’m done barring a miracle. “C’mon dealer, help me out”. Flop comes Ac10c8s. I’m dead to a 2. “2. 2. 2. 2. 2.” Turn is…..6h. “C’mon 2!” River is…..2c. “Yesssss”. So I sit back down. I got my little miracle. Damn, I needed it. I need a few more.

  Play has come to an end for the night. I’ve managed to take my stack of $36k up to $65k and back. Not what I had planned. Well, half anyway. The back part. Time to bag and count my chips. $22.8k. Extremely short stacked for Day 3 but alive. Maybe I can get lucky early and get to the money. We have a day off before Day 3 then everybody left in the tournament finally comes together. Day 3 is bubble day. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. It ain’t over until it’s over. The fat lady ain’t singing yet but she’s warming up. Maybe I can put a sock in it in time. We’ll see on Day 3.

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• Day 1C

  November 17, 2008

  The command has been given and the dealer does his job. We’ve been dealt the 1st hand of our WSOP Main Event. I look down at . Not too bad of a 1st hand. The button is on Seat 10 and it’s folded around to me. “Raise” 3xBB is standard so that’s what it is. Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold. Whew. At least I can say that I won the 1st hand I ever played at the Main Event.

  Next hand, I look down at . This is going well so far. Folded to me. 3x BB again. One call from Seat 1 on the button. Let’s see a flop. . Continuation bet of 75% of the pot. Seat 1 insta-folds. Damn, this may be easier than I thought. Seat 5 makes the comment of, “I guess we know who the table-bully is going to be.” No bully here. But if I keep getting cards, they might think so. That’s OK with me.

  3rd hand, could I go 3 for 3? Nope. and back to reality it is. So time goes by and the hands come and go with nothing spectacular. Talking with the other players at the table, I find out that out of 10 players, only 1 player actually paid his own way into the tournament. All of the rest of us won a seat via online poker. Poor guy. I figure that I’m already $10k ahead of him.

  Time for the 1st break. I follow most of the players and go outside to the King of all porta-potties. This thing is definitely the “Mac-Daddy” of all crappers. I’ve got enough time to smoke a couple of cigarettes and then it’s back to the game…..

  OK, this has been a long day so far. My table is playing pretty tight. It’s time for the supper break and we haven’t lost a single player at my table. The kid in Seat 1 seems to have a thing for having a big “looking” stack. He seems to be trying to accumulate every $25 chip on the table. There’s a mountain of green down there. Funny thing is, my chip count is actually higher than his. It’s been pretty slow going. My end of the table has developed some common goals. Don’t get eliminated and win some of those damn green chips. We’re all tired of having to get change every other hand. Stupid goal but it helps pass the time. Dinner time and my stack has gone from $10k up to $14k…..

  Here is the biggest drawback of not staying at the Rio when playing. You have nowhere to go during the dinner breaks. I’ll be damned if I’m going to risk not making it back from the Orleans so I guess I’ll have to hang out here. Maybe if I make it further along, I’ll make a move to either the Rio or the Gold Coast across the street. So I guess I’ll spend my dinner break hanging out in the hall and stepping outside to smoke. Yippee-skippy. Dinner break is about over (thank God) and it’s about time to be let back in the tournament area of the Amazon Room. The crowd is not quite as large as it was this morning.

  We’ve been back at it for about an hour and everybody seems to have either gained confidence or gotten tired of playing so tight. 2 players were just eliminated in back to back hands. These are the 1st eliminations for my table. Here come the 2 players to fill the open seats. Seat 2 is an older guy with a stack of over $50k. I hear a few moans and groans from the table but I look at it as this table needs some chips if any of us are going to make a decent showing. Seat 3 looks familiar. Seat 5 speaks to him like he knows him. Ah, it’s John Gale. He won a bracelet already this year. Alrighty then. This is what I came for anyway, to play against the amateurs and pros.

  The table dynamics changed immediately since John Gale’s arrival. He’s really putting the pressure on the table. Seat 5 wants to be chummy with him but Mr. Gale is having no part of it. At one point, Mr. Gale tells him, “Sir, you may think you know my game. But I assure you, you do not.” Red faced, Seat 5 has no response. Now, Seat 5 has apparently decided to change his tactics to match Mr. Gale. Good thing I have position on him.

  I look down at in the cut-off. Seat 5 raises to 3xBB. I reraise to 7xBB. Folded around and Seat 5 calls. Flop comes . Seat 5 checks. Bad flop for me but I still may have the best hand. I bet out a ½ pot sized bet. Seat 5 raises me the pot. I just have the feeling that he’s full of crap so I shove. Now my heart is racing. Fold, fold, fold!!! He takes a peek at his cards and tosses them. Whew. Maybe that’ll slow him down a little bit.

  About 1 round later, I’m in the BB and it’s rocket city. Somebody bet. C’mon bet. Fold, fold, fold, c’mon bet, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, raise from Seat 5 to 4xBB. Hmmmm. Maybe if I give him some rope, he’ll hang himself so I smooth call. Flop comes . OK. This hand should be mine but am I going to get any action? Seat 5 checks. I check quickly trying to look disgusted at the flop. Turn is the . OK. If he doesn’t bet here, I’m going to have to bet to protect from the possible draws. He bets the pot. Great. Now I do my best imitation of our previous hand and think a moment then shove. I get an insta-call. No way can he call this with diamonds or a straight draw. Nope, . He’s drawing dead. The river is a inconsequential . Goodbye ass. Let him leave the area just to be polite. OK. He’s gone. “Dang, Mr. Gale. Now nobody’s left that knows your game.” I get a good laugh from the table. Hell, I’m having fun now. My stack is up to $26k and I’m feeling good.

  A few rounds later, Seat 1 busts out and it’s goodbye to the green-chip boy. His seat is filled by a young Brit who wants to chat it up with Mr. Gale. Why would anybody want to tell a professional poker player bad-beat stories? Mr. Gale lets him know pretty quickly that we’ve all got bad-beat stories so that conversation ends. 1st hand that Seat 1 gets involved in, he shows on a flop of and takes the pot from a player with . He says that he just felt that was going to flop. Bullshit. He won’t be here long. A few rounds later, he shoves on a flop of and is insta-called by Seat 10 with . I guess he didn’t feel that one. Goodbye.

  Play has drug on into the night. It’s after midnight which makes it after 3 am in my home time zone. I’m getting tired but want to keep up my play. I’ve been drinking a few cups of coffee for stimulant and now with 24 minutes left, I can’t wait until the break. And I mean I can’t wait. It’s a location question. I’m about to go here or in the restroom. The location is my choice. So it’s out to the porta-potties I walk/run. WTF???? Closed for maintenance???? All 3 at the same time???? This is not good. OK. I can make it. Let’s walk/run back inside and down the hall on the other side of the Amazon Room. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Whew. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Back to my seat with 10 minutes left before break. I don’t need one now, lol.

  Everybody seems pretty tired now. I’ve been involved in a few hands and my stack has grown to $36.4k. This isn’t great but not too bad. The night is about to finally come to an end. We’re bagging our chips and putting the little tags in. Got my seat assignment and have already scoped my table for tomorrow. It’s all the way in the back near the feature table. Being that far back, it’ll probably never be broken on Day 2b so my chances of getting lucky and being moved to the feature table are slim and none. 888.com will pay any player wearing their gear on the feature table so I was just hoping.

  Time to take a cab back to the Orleans, get some breakfast (1st meal of the day), and totally crash. I have 2 days off because of Day 1d and 2a. I’ll do all of the same preparations I did for Day 1 again for Day 2b.

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• Preparations for Day 1C

  November 13, 2008

  I’m ready to play. It’s the morning of Day 1C. It may be my age but I felt that I needed to prepare for marathon poker tournaments like the Main Event. With Day 1’s lasting into the wee hours, time zone differences making it feel even later, and needing to maintain concentration throughout the tournament, I felt that just going in blind would be a huge mistake. So I decided that there were a few things that I could do to prepare.

  Diet—I don’t care what anybody says. Yes, you should eat healthy. But for the days prior and during a tournament, I don’t want to eat anything different than the foods that I am accustomed to eating, whether they are healthy or not. So in the 2 previous days, I’ve had a sub sandwich for lunch, a pizza for dinner, eggs, bacon, and hash browns for breakfast, skipped lunch (as I do a lot), and chicken tenders for dinner. I know. I know. These are typical poker room cuisine. But that’s what I am used to. The last thing that I want to do is develop any kind of stomach flu or adverse food reaction right before or during a tournament. So the last 2 days were not time to get adventurous and try anything different than what I am accustomed to eating. So I’m good.

  Play—I wasn’t going to change my game now so why worry about it. I played some cash games and a tourney here at the Orleans on Day 1A but didn’t even go into the poker room on Day 1B. Clear the head. I’ll get enough poker today (hopefully)

  War kit—It may sound ridiculous to the younger players, but I have a bag that I take with me to tournaments. It contains: Immodium AD (can’t be running to the bathroom too often), Tums (an antacid just to be comfortable), B-12 (for alertness), Tylenol (for any ache, pain, or headache), and a picture of my family (to remind me of why I’m playing in the first place).

  So I’m good to go. I had a little bit of a hard time going to sleep last night. It’s like a kid on Christmas Eve. The anticipation is killing me. I take the free shuttle over to the Gold Coast and walk over to the Rio. Again, I can feel the excitement. It’s not technically the 1st day of the Main Event, but it is for the players of Day 1C. You can see it in their faces. People standing around talking while seeming to size up everybody that walks by. There’s a crowd waiting for the Amazon Room to open up and allow players to go to their tables. It’s almost time.

  Finally, we’re allowed in. Let me find my seat. I already located it when I was in here as a spectator on Day 1A. I remember wondering then if the guy sitting in my seat on that day would make it to Day 2. I’m not superstitious. I just wondered. Before I came into the Amazon Room, I was talking to a guy I met at the 888.com Welcoming Party the other night. Now this guy is superstitious. When they allowed us in, he had to go around and go through a certain door to enter because he thought that it was “lucky”. I’m not sure the door will help him.

  Here’s my seat. I show the dealer my seat card. Yep, I’m in the right place. Seat 6. Put my bag under the chair and I’m ready to go. Let’s get this show on the road. Let me take a look at my table-mates.

  Seat 1—Some kid (low 20s) with a British accent.
  Seat 2—40ish guy-American
  Seat 3—same as Seat 2
  Seat 4—mid-20s American
  Seat 5—mid 30s American that seems to like to talk.
  Seat 6—Some moron—me.
  Seat 7—mid 30s American
  Seat 8—mid 20s American
  Seat 9—mid 20s American
  Seat 10—mid 20s American

  Ok. Let’s get done with the announcements already. Finally, those magical words. “Shuffle up and deal!!”

  211 views, 1 comments